D R.

R AM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW U NIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

MOOT COURT COMMITTEE

9TH RMLNLU SCC ONLINE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION,
2021

CLARIFICATIONS

1. In the given facts point 17 lists the treaties to which State of Histanbul and State of
Alsara are signatories. But it does not include Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which forms an essential part of the issues mentioned. Please clarify whether
the participants can refer to UDHR or not?

The participants may refer to any source of international law.

2. Please enlighten us whether the countries mentioned in the moot problem are
Common Law Countries or Civil Law Countries?

This question is not relevant to the moot proposition. The participants may refer
to different sources of international law including general principles of law
recognised by civilized nations.

3. The election date in Alsara (as given in paragraph 10) is February 14,2021 to March
14 2021 but in paragraph 11 the election dates are given in February 2020. So,
whether it is going to be held in 2020 or 2021?

The date in paragraph 11 should be read as February 12, 2021.

4. On page no.12 under Appendix the law for defamation under Section 190 of Alsara
Criminal Law Code,1910 is given but the footnote number 1 for the same provides
exception for law of defamation in Histanbul. So, please clarify regarding the same
footnote that whether the exception is for the law of defamation in Alsara or
Histanbul.
 As clearly mentioned in the footnote, the law on defamation in Histanbul allows
for truth as an exception. The participants may note that apart from this
additional exception, the law of defamation in Histanbul is the same as that in
Alsara.

5. Whether Ms. Panth has been arrested on the basis of Rayan’s statements on social
media?

Ms. Panth was arrested by the Alsarian government under Section 190 of Alsara
Criminal Law Code, 1910 (ACLC) which made defamation, a criminal offence
on account of the statement published by Rayan on his account on ‘Jumbo’.

6. Whether Ms. Panth is being charged only with defamation and/or any other offences,
which may be based on the Investigation Committee’s Report?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Compromis.

7. Is Jumbo a company registered under the Companies Act?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Moot Proposition.

8. Is 'Pride', an Alsarian Telecom Company, a government company?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Moot Proposition.

9. Could concepts and provisions from the Indian Constitution be used?

The participants may refer to different sources of international law including

general principles of law recognised by civilized nations

10. In Para 2, what kind of human rights violations has Alsara committed on minority
 communities such as Simans?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Moot Proposition.

11. In Para 3, how have the pressure groups created by Histanbulian Simans operated?
Have they operated extraterritorially through their media outlets? Do their measures
involve coercion or violence? Further, the factsheet states that “It is believed that
Simans in Histanbul...”. Whose beliefs are these?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Compromis.

12. In Para 4, which companies/individuals own the rest of the 55% shareholding in
Jumbo? What is Ms. Panth’s role in Jumbo, apart from being its founder? Please give
a breakdown of the entire shareholding coupled with if it includes private and/or
public companies.

Ms. Panth is the founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Jumbo.

13. In Para 4, who owns the remaining 55% of Jumbo’s shares?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Compromis.

14. Is Ms. Panth a shareholder? If yes, what percentage of shares are held by her?

No clarification is required.

15. Does Alsara hold any shares in Jumbo?

No clarification is required.
16. How involved is the Government of Histanbul in the functioning of the government
companies that hold 45% of Jumbo’s shares?

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Moot Proposition.

17. In Para 5, what kind of personal information does Jumbo seek while persons fill up a
survey to join the referral scheme? Does it include addresses, date of birth, political
inclinations, etc.? Was user’s data being collected by Jumbo even when they didn’t
use the referral scheme to join?

The participants are expected to infer the relevant information from the facts
already provided in the Moot Proposition.

18. Did Jumbo seek users’ permission to use and share the collected data with a third
party?

Yes, it seeks users’ permission to use and share the collected data with a third
party through a clickwrap agreement.

19. In Para 7, what are the other initiatives/programmes that Jumbo promoted to achieve
digital equality in Alsara? Please elaborate.

No clarification is required.

20. In Para 8, what are the ‘terms and conditions’ based on which accounts were
suspended by Jumbo?

No clarification is required.

21. Is Pride a government company?

No clarification is required.
22. In Para 9, is Sasha the leader of AIC, from the Siman Community? Further, what
were the “democratic institutions” that Sasha alleged that the APC had destroyed?

No clarification is required.

23. In Para 11, were Rayan and Ms. Panth arrested for the defamation of the Prime
Minister or the APC or both?

Rayan and Ms. Panth were arrested for the defamation of the Prime Minister of
Alsara.

24. In Para 12, what kind of privacy laws does Alsara have? Do Alsara’s privacy laws
meet the standards established by any existing conventions on data protection?

Right to privacy is a constitutionally guaranteed right in Alsara as well as

Histanbul.

25. In Para 13, can the findings from the investigation report be used as facts, as these can
be easily manipulated and are unverified claims and hence should hold no merit in the
Problem. Further, what kind of information did Jumbo use to create psychographic
profiles of user?

No clarification is required.

26. Is Section 190 of Alsara Criminal Law Code, 1910 pari materia to Section 499 of
Indian Penal Code? Further, in the exceptions to Section 190 of the Alsara Criminal
Law Code can ‘public servant’ and ‘public question’ be defined? These are vague
terms and not much clarity is given on the domestic law meaning/interpretation of the
terms.

Although Section 190 of the Alsara Criminal Law Code, 1910 is not pari materia
to Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the participants may refer to the
judicial interpretation of the terms ‘public servant’ and ‘public question’ under
section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
27. The second issue talks about only the freedom of speech and expression of only Ms.
Panth. Ms. Panth nowhere makes a statement in the proposition. Please provide us
clarity with this anomaly. If the freedom of speech and expression of Jumbo or Rayan
or anyother party is concerned, please stipulate the same in the clarifications.

No clarification is required. The participants are expected to infer the relevant

information from the facts already provided in the Compromis.

28. While Ms. Panth and Rayan both are arrested, the issues nowhere provide us an
opportunity to tackle the illegality/unreasonableness of the arrest and whether or not
the same would be deemed as defamation under the Alsarian Criminal Code.

No clarification is required.

29. While Jumbo’s initiatives are criticised in the Investigation Report, there seems to be
no issue allowing us to deal with if the right to privacy of Alsarian citizens are being
violated? Were Jumbo’s activities in compliance with Alsara’s privacy laws?

No clarification is required.

30. Are any of the questions dealing with Rayan’s issues?

No clarification is required

31. In para 13 it has been stated that “Alsarians were also shown information about
‘Protest against NR’ events,” what kind of information was this, did it include any
misinformation or fake news?

No clarification is required.

ADDITIONAL FACT

It may be noted that some civil society organisations in Vangal had raised
concerns in January 2020 that Jumbo might be involved in data privacy
violation of its users. However, no investigative or legal action was initiated
against Jumbo in Vangal.